Turley: Old Vine Zin

Another notable stop on our Paso Robles tour was Turley Wine Cellars. My first experience with Turley was at The Girl and the Fig, an amazing "French country" restaurant in Sonoma where we dined a couple years ago. Larry Turley founded his namesake winery after he sold his share of Frog's Leap in Napa to focus on Zinfandel. Turley scours the entire state of California looking for the oldest Zinfandel vines, making 23 different bottlings of Zin plus 5 bottlings of Petite Sirah. His Zin blends include the best blocks from the vineyards, and within those blocks the best grapes are bottled as single vineyard designates. All of the vineyards they source from are organic or in the process of becoming certified organic, all yeasts used in fermentation are natural, and the wines are unfined and unfiltered.  

Turley Ueberroth Vineyard Zinfandel 2011 comes from their oldest vineyard of 18 acres planted in 1885 in Paso Robles. The vines are ungrafted and head-trained on very steep limestone soils. The high pH of the soil translate into a high-acid wine. I found it to be beautifully complex, with a nose of barnyard/hay, spring flowers in bloom and salty air with brambly fruit and earth on the palate.

I also enjoyed the Turley Hayne Vineyard Petite Syrah 2005 from Napa Valley (they spell it 'Syrah' rather than 'Sirah'), which had a great blueberry nose and boisenberry palate, with nice structure, firm tannin, and brambly complexity. Planted in 1953, the Hayne Vineyard is dry-farmed and head-trained.

Old head-trained vines on the Turley property in Paso Robles

In addition to the Paso Robles tasting room, Turley recently opened one in the hills of Amador County, where they source a lot of fruit. Perhaps this will be our next trip?

Tablas Creek: The Original Rhone Ranger

Last weekend I extended my tour of non-Napa and non-Sonoma California wine regions with a trip to Paso Robles, 3.5 hours south of San Francisco. Tablas Creek Vineyard was at the top of my list, knowing only that they produced Rhone varietals. I quickly learned that this partnership between the Perrin family of Chateau de Beaucastel in Châteauneuf du Pape (Southern Rhone, France) and Robert Haas, an importer and founder of Vineyard Brands, which brought the wines of Marqués de Cáceres (Spain), Santa Rita (Chile), and Villa Maria (New Zealand) to the U.S., resulted in the first Rhone varietals being brought to the U.S. back in the 1980s. The team purchased 120 acres in the Las Tablas area of west Paso Robles county, noting the similarities to Châteauneuf du Pape: limestone soils, a temperate climate, and hilly terrain. They brought over the traditional Rhone varietals from France: Mourvèdre, Grenache, Syrah, Counoise (reds) and Roussanne, Viognier, Marsanne, Grenache Blanc (whites). The original 80 cuttings were brought in through Cornell University for quarantine and propagation, and the new plants were grafted onto disease-resistant American rootstock. Tablas Creek today has their own grafting business and grafts for themselves and other wineries in California.

An original Syrah plant brought to the U.S. from Chateau de Beaucastel in Rhone, France

Mourvedre grafted onto old vine Chardonnay in the field

While a rarity in California, some of the great French wine regions are known for their limestone, including Champagne, Burgundy, and of course, Châteauneuf du Pape. Tablas Creek Vineyard is organic and dry-farmed (no irrigation), and the limestone soil retains the moisture from about 30 inches of annual rainfall. The topsoil of clay and decomposed limestone helps with drainage. The 1500-foot elevation and proximity to the ocean give it the benefit of the humidity and tempered climate. Cover crops like peas, oats and cloves also help with drainage and provide food for their many grazing animals, including sheep, donkey, pigs, alpacas and chickens. These animals naturally fertilize and aerate the soil.

Tablas Creek is largely estate grown, with some additional Paso Robles grapes used for their Patelin de Tablas blended red and white wines. The wines undergo natural fermentation in a wide variety of tanks and barrels. The whites are full of minerally acidity, so they are crisp, refreshing and alive. The reds have deep flavor with good structure and balance.  The signature red and white Rhone blends are named Esprit de Tablas, mimicking the Chateau de Beaucastel wines. The Cotes de Tablas blends are meant to be approachable sooner than Esprit.  

Cotes de Tablas Blanc 2012: Viognier, Grenache Blanc, Marsanne and Roussanne combine into a fresh, well-bodied wine with orange blossom notes.

Esprit de Tablas Blanc 2011: Roussanne leads with Grenache Blanc and Picpoul Blanc making an appearance to a lush, rich result.

Picpoul Blanc 2012: a lesser-known Rhone varietal, Picpoul Blanc is also known as the “lip stinger” for its sparkling and spicy citrus character.

Mourvedre 2011: 100% varietal full of red fruit, bloody beef, earthiness and nice salinity.

Cote de Tablas 2011: Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, and Counoise balance bright spice, earth and meat in this wine.

Esprit de Tablas 2011: Mourvedre, Grenache, Syrah and Counoise combine in a dark fruity, meaty, spicy wine that is a bit more lush than the Cote de Tablas.

Tannat 2011: a varietal from the Basque region of Spain that is widely planted in Uruguay, Tannat made its U.S. debut through Tablas Creek. Classic blackberry flavor on a firm, tannic structure mean this wine will likely age well.


Thank you to Gustavo for a wonderful tour & tasting and to Jason Haas for making the arrangements. Go Big Red!

My Bubbly Valentine

This A. Margaine Premier Cru Brut Champagne was a gift to me from the Hermann J. Wiemer crew in winter 2010, and last night Jeremy and I enjoyed it with a quiet dinner at home. It was beautifully minerally and toasty at the same time, full of brioche flavors and baked apple. I love Champagne almost as much as I love my Valentine.

Rhone Rangers @ Campovida Oakland

Yesterday Campovida's Oakland location hosted a Rhone Rangers tasting with a dozen wineries making French varietals like Viognier, Marsanne, Roussanne, Grenache, and Syrah. Campovida Taste of Place Oakland, near the Port of Oakland, shares space with the Linden Street Brewery. We had previously tried some of their beers at Piazza de Campovida in Hopland during our recent Mendocino trip; we'll have to go back to Oakland for the full brewery experience. The Campovida tasting room is very cool, with funky art on the walls and a restaurant on the way.

As for the event, a recent fave, Two Shepherds, poured alongside participants from the Oakland Wine Trail on this rainy day.

Jeff Cohn Cellars: "The First Date," a white blend of Roussanne and Marsanne

Urban Legend: loved their Grenache also (not pictured)

Stage Left: Syrah and Petite Sirah

Of course, Campovida was pouring their delicious wines, which went fabulously with the paella setup outside. I will definitely be coming back to the Port of Oakland for more wine, beer, and Campovida's new restaurant!

"Tuesday night" wine... on a Friday

This past Friday we hosted a wine tasting of "Tuesday night" wines - inexpensive (under $20), easy-drinking wines that you can reach for on a random night for any occasion or lack thereof. My go-to choice is the Marques de Caceres Rioja, which I have written about before.  I probably drink a bottle of this every other week. We shared it with our group to rave reviews. You can't beat the price ($10.99 at Trader Joe's) and the consistency. 

Highlights from our guests:

Super excited to have Txakoli in America! This pink Ameztoi is under $10 and has the classic refreshing crispness of this coastal Spanish/Basque wine with the salty finish, bringing me back to our recent trip.


A couple years ago at a Beaujolais tasting I was disappointed by the category and wrote it off, but I actually really enjoyed this Domaine de Colette Beaujolais-Villages, with its earthy, minerally subtle fruit flavor.

Another Spanish wine, this Volver 100% Tempranillo from La Mancha, Spain, stood up well next to my Marques.

What's your favorite "Tuesday night" wine?

1989 Cabernet Sauvignon: 1 for Sonoma, 1 for Napa

The other night we were making a steak dinner so we decided to try a bottle of A. Rafanelli Cabernet Sauvignon 1989 from the Indiana basement collection. Under the capsule the top of the bottle and cork were moldy, and the fill was low in the bottle, suggesting some leakage. We didn't have high hopes for the wine. The cork crumbled and we had to push it in to get to the wine, which we then decanted. We tried it, and it was pretty oxidized with little fruit left. We figured it was gone and reached for another bottle from the collection. It happened to be Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 1989. This was pure coincidence - we were just reaching for another old bottle and it happened to be this. The cork was in better shape and came out in one piece, unless you count the many tartrate crystals attached to the end. We decanted it and tried it, and while strongly vegetal, it seemed to have more structure, acidity, and tannin, and we deemed it the winner. We left the other, not ready to dump it yet while we sipped the Diamond Creek. As we went about making dinner, about a half hour later Jeremy said, try the Rafanelli. I did, and just from the smell I could tell it had improved. Fruity and spicy, with each sip it kept getting better. We went back to the Diamond Creek - not as vegetal, with hints of dried fruit starting to emerge. We were intrigued. Both were getting better. We took a glass of each to the table to enjoy with dinner. Rafanelli was fruity, spicy and smooth, while Diamond Creek was bold, structured, and interesting with secondary fruit. When we finished eating, the Diamond Creek was pretty much at the end of its life, with the fleeting fruit now gone. The Rafanelli had kept opening up, and I quickly whipped up a batch of cookies to pair with it for dessert. Unfortunately, that 20 minutes was enough to turn this wine back on its side, as the fruit started to fade and it was time to say goodnight. 2 bottles, 2 roller-coaster rides, 2 Cabs: 1 point for Sonoma, 1 point for Napa.

An interesting and fun exercise in old wine and time.

Mendocino Day 3: Coast and Knez

On our last day in Mendocino county, after exploring Heritage House Resort, our coastline retreat, we had lunch in the charming, quaint town of Mendocino and walked the dramatic cliffs over the ocean. Heading back to San Francisco, we happily took 128 back through the redwoods and Anderson Valley, stopping at Knez Winery's tasting room along the way. I had tried a couple of these wines at the SF Vintners Market also, so it was fun to taste the broader lineup. With around 2000 cases produced, all the wines are unfiltered, unfined and go through native yeast fermentation. The fruit is all estate-grown and farmed biodynamically. They have a super interesting white blend of Tocai Fruilano, Malvasia, and Pinot Grigio, which are all dry-farmed grapes that are picked at the same time, co-fermented in neutral oak and aged on the lees. The wine had a floral nose with orange blossom, gardenia, and anise notes. I also enjoyed their 2011 Cerise Vineyard Pinor Noir, which is a steep slope vineyard with a lot of iron in the soil. This translated into an earthy, meaty salinity in the wine that I really liked. 33% of the wine saw new French oak and 50% was fermented in whole clusters. This Pinot, being the Martini clone, is characterized by smaller clusters and thicker skins than other Pinot (which as a grape is known for having a thin skin). Very interesting and complex. A nice cap to an enjoyable weekend of wine and waves in Mendocino county.

Knez combines nature's vines with the ocean's creatures in their unique labels.